


Eulogy for a Fallen Angel

by AlexIsOkay



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-12
Updated: 2017-06-18
Packaged: 2018-11-13 04:50:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11177400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexIsOkay/pseuds/AlexIsOkay
Summary: My friend and I were recently talking about an AU where things go slightly differently, and Mercy ends up being one of the Overwatch agents caught up in the explosion at their headquarters. One idea lead into the next, and before long we had pretty much planned out an entire story, that I then had an urge to write. Forgive me if this summary is vague, but there's not much else I can say without getting into spoiler territory. There are a couple of small details that are tweaked beforehand as well, such as Pharah actually getting to join Overwatch briefly before it's shut down, but for the most part the explosion at Overwatch Headquarters is the diverging point between this story and canon. Enjoy!





	1. Prologue

The tense atmosphere that hung over everyone prior to a mission never seemed to go away. No matter how many times she went out into the field, no matter how many times she risked her life, Fareeha Amari still hadn’t gotten used to the waiting. Everyone was still. Everyone was silent. The only sound came from the dull hum of the jet engines outside, carrying their dropship towards its destination. Still, there was one major difference that set this apart from any other mission Fareeha had ever been on: it was her first mission with Overwatch.

Fareeha- now operating under the callsign Pharah, had dreamed about joining Overwatch ever since she had been a child. She had practically grown up on the base, raised just as much by Reyes and Morrison as she had been by her own mother. Even though she knew that her mother was opposed to it, Fareeha had always wanted to follow in their footsteps, to become one of the heroes that the world so desperately seemed to need. The agents of Overwatch had been her family and her role models, and she had practically been counting the days until she could enlist as well.

Life didn’t always work out the way you planned it to, though. While Fareeha had finally been able to join Overwatch, just like she had always wanted, the timing hadn’t been opportune. The organization was under investigation by the United Nations. Gerard Lacroix had been murdered, and his wife had gone missing again. Her own mother was presumed dead after her platoon had been wiped out during a mission in the Middle East. Infighting between the main branch of Overwatch and the Blackwatch covert ops division had been threatening stability. And now…

Now an enormous explosion had destroyed a large portion of Overwatch’s Headquarters. Fareeha’s heart had plummeted into her chest when she had heard the news. This wasn’t the way that her first mission was supposed to go.

Several high profile figures were still unaccounted for after the explosion, including Morrison and Reyes themselves. Fareeha wasn’t being sent after them, however. Instead, she was part of an extraction team that was being sent into the medical wing of the Headquarters. A large number of Overwatch’s medical researchers were currently missing as well, and Fareeha and the rest of her squad were being sent in to save as many live as possible, while also recovering any research that they could. As she had looked over the list of names, there had been one in particular that stood out to Fareeha, one that she recognized: Angela Ziegler.

It had been years since Fareeha had actually seen Angela, but she remembered the woman all the same. Angela had always been around when Fareeha had been growing up, studying under Overwatch’s medical division long before she was even an official member. Unlike most of the agents around the Headquarters, however, people like Morrison and Reyes, who had decades on her, Angela was only a few years older. It had been nice having someone so close in age, and Angela had almost felt like an older sister to Fareeha.

Which was why Fareeha was so damn determined to save her. Her mother was likely dead. Morrison and Reyes were unaccounted for, and Fareeha had prepared herself for the worst. But she wasn’t going to lose another member of her family. She would find Angela, and she would bring her back safely. Even at the cost of her own life.

“Amari.” Fareeha’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of her squad’s leader, and she looked up to see the older man looking at her from across the the dropship. “The rest of us will be breaching through the ground, but you’ll be going in through the roof. While we haven’t received reports of hostiles from any of the other teams it’s still possible that whoever was responsible for the explosion is hiding out somewhere, so be careful.”

“Understood,” Fareeha replied, giving a small nod in response. As the only member of her squad trained in the use of the Raptora combat suit, it wasn’t surprising to her that they were taking advantage of her mobility by sending her in through a different route. It was a good use of resources, she thought. While she had her rocket launcher strapped across her back just in case, she also had a pistol at her hip, which was meant to be her primary weapon during this mission. Rockets already tended to be dangerous in confined spaces, and given the state of the building they were infiltrating, bombarding it with even more explosions seemed like a terrible idea.

“We’re approaching the drop zone in t-minus thirty seconds. You sure you’re ready for this, rookie?” Fareeha didn’t answer the question right away. Instead she stood up, walking towards the bulkhead door and reaching up to her face, touching her fingers to the wedjat tattoo under her right eye very briefly before her visor flicked down into place.

“I’m sure,” she replied, twisting the handle on the door and prying it open. The sound of rushing wind immediately filled her ears, and Fareeha felt the familiar sensation of being buffeted by air as it tried to push her back into the cabin. She held fast, though, instead staring down at the ground several thousand feet below. Even from this height she could make out the familiar Headquarters building- and the damage that had been done to it. Large sections were nothing more than rubble at this point, and even the parts that hadn’t been destroyed completely showed obvious signs of damage. Whatever had caused this explosion had clearly been powerful.

“Alright, you’re good to go. Radio back to us once you’re inside.”

“Roger,” Fareeha replied, looking back at her commanding officer to give one more small nod before turning her attention back to the outside. With a deep breath she stepped forward out of the ship, giving up her footing and sending herself into freefall.

The sound of the wind rushing past her became even louder now, until it was so strong that it was drowning out Fareeha’s own thoughts. For the first several thousand feet she simply allowed herself to fall, just watching as the ground got closer, as the ruins of Ovewatch’s Headquarters grew larger and larger. She surveyed the landscape, locating the roof of the medical annex that was meant to be her target and twisting herself towards it.

It was only once she started to come closer to the ground that Fareeha activated the thrusters on her Raptora suit, righting herself and gradually beginning to slow her descent. She was almost at a complete stop by the time she reached the rooftop, jets kicking up clouds of dust as she lowered herself down onto a stable corner of the structure. The center of the roof was completely caved in, and while that wasn’t a good sign for the building itself, it at least presented an easy entrance point. Fareeha kept her footsteps as light as she could while she made her way across the roof (which wasn’t really that light at all, thanks to the enormous and enormously heavy suit of armor surrounding her body). She managed to approach the edge of the hole without incident though, peering down inside once she reached it.

Unsurprisingly, the power inside the building had been knocked out during the explosions, causing the hallway below to be rather dark. Thankfully, though, a quick scan didn’t show any signs of other people below, and so, turning her thrusters to the lowest setting, Fareeha jumped over the edge and dropped into the building.

She hit the floor with a thud, cursing the fact that if there were any hostiles around, they certainly knew that she was here by now. Standing up straight a shoulder-mounted light on Fareeha’s suit flicked on, allowing her to get a better look at her surroundings. The inside of the building also showed clear signs of structural damage, with visible cracks in the walls and other small parts of the ceiling caving in. Still, none of it compared to massive gap she had entered through.

“This is Pharah,” she said, holding down a button on the side of her helmet to radio the rest of her squad. “I’ve breached the building. Currently on the top floor. No signs of hostiles or survivors yet. Over.” There was a moment of silence before her commanding officer’s voice came back over the speakers in her helmet.

“Roger. Preparing to breach from the main entrance now. Keep us updated. Over and out.”

Lowering her hand from her helmet and taking a hold of her pistol, Fareeha began to head deeper into the building. The farther she got from her entry point the less the sunlight reached, and the less she was able to see. The small light on her suit helped a bit, but it really wasn’t doing that much to illuminate her path, and the dust that filled the air only made visibility that much worse. She found herself relying on sound more than anything, keeping an ear out for any signs of life, whether it was friend or foe. But all of that went out of her mind the moment she turned the next corner.

The sight in front of her made Fareeha’s blood run cold. Even more than it had when she heard about the explosion, even more than it had when she had been told that her own mother had gone missing and was likely dead. There, lying on the ground underneath a caved-in pile of rubble and debris, was Angela Ziegler.

Fareeha hadn’t seen Angela in years, but she was still able to recognize that face immediately. For just a moment Fareeha froze, so horrified by the sight in front of her that she couldn’t even move, and then instinct kicked in. She was sprinting across the floor, dropping down to her knees next to the woman and beginning to rip away pieces of the cave-in with her hands. “Angela!” she cried out, looking down at the medic’s near lifeless face. At this distance Fareeha could tell that she was still breathing, at the very least, but she wasn’t responsive. Her eyes were glazed over, staring straight up, and it didn’t even seem that she was aware of Fareeha’s presence. And as Fareeha ripped back yet another piece of debris, it became clear why.

There, sticking up from Angela’s stomach, was a half-inch thick section of rebar. She had been impaled on it during the collapse, apparently, and now she was bleeding out. Blood was soaking through her clothing, pooling underneath her, each drop lost bringing her closer and closer to the brink of death. No, she was already at the brink. Now she risked falling right over the edge.

“No…” Fareeha whispered, hands shaking as she tried to figure out what to do. She couldn’t move Angela without removing the rebar, but doing so would only cause her to bleed out even faster. By the time Fareeha was able to get her proper medical attention, it very well might already be too late. “Dammit,  _ dammit, DAMMIT! _ ”

“F… Fareeha…?” Her hand was already halfway up to the button on her helmet to radio for help when she heard that voice, and Fareeha’s head immediately whipped back up, finding that Angela had managed to lift her head enough to make eye contact. It was strange how calming that was. When she had thought that Angela was beyond the point of consciousness Fareeha had been a moment away from forgetting all of her training and breaking down completely. But now that she knew Angela could see and hear her, she found it far easier to stay calm, for Angela. Fareeha didn’t want to panic her. Even if the doctor was laying there dying, Fareeha wanted her to stay calm.

“You’re going to be alright,” she promised, doubting her own words even as she spoke them. “I’m going to get you help. You’re going to be okay.” Angela had gone quiet again at this point, and her eyes had returned to the ceiling. For a brief second Fareeha was worried that she was gone, but she was still breathing. Just as long as she kept breathing, everything was still okay. The problem still remained, though, of figuring out a way to actually stabilize Angela’s condition. Fareeha wracked her brain, trying to think of something, anything she could to save the doctor’s life-

And then it hit her.

Technically it was just a rumor. Fareeha didn’t know if there was actually any truth to it at all. But if there was even a chance that what she had heard was true, if there was even a chance of saving Angela’s life, she had to try.

“Just hold on,” she said, not even sure if the doctor could hear her anymore. “I’ll be right back.” Jumping back up to her feet, Fareeha began to sprint down the hallway, running as fast as she had ever run in her entire life. She was barely even aware of the heavy armor weighing her down. And all the while, the rumors she had heard were bouncing around in her head.

According to unconfirmed reports, Angela had been on the verge of a breakthrough. A way to utilize nanobiology that had never been seen before. A method that could cure any injury, no matter how severe it was. A technology so powerful that, if the whisperings were to be believed, it could even bring back the freshly deceased.

It sounded completely farfetched, like some kind of miracle cure that was too good to be true. But right now, a miracle was exactly what Fareeha needed. She kept sprinting down the hall, passing door after door until she finally found the one she was looking for. Stopping in front of it for just a moment, she read the words printed on the window: Dr. Angela Zeigler.

The door was locked, but easy enough to force open. Something that, at the moment, Fareeha felt entirely justified in doing. As she burst into Angela’s office, she saw that it hadn’t been spared from the effects of the blast. Various bits of equipment had fallen off shelves and were scattered across the floor, and an entire desk had been overturned in the explosion. The clutter only compounded the fact that Fareeha didn’t even know exactly what she was looking for in the first place, making it that much harder to find it. But when Fareeha’s eyes landed on something laying in the corner, she suddenly had the feeling that this was her target.

It was a staff. There was no other way to explain it. Despite the various buttons and switches, despite the technology that looked as advanced as Fareeha’s own Raptora suit, it was a staff, plain and simple. Fareeha wasn’t entirely sure how it was supposed to work, or why it was shaped like this, but Angela had always had a flair for the dramatic, and there was no doubt in Fareeha’s mind that this was what she was looking for. Doubling over to scoop it off the ground Fareeha spun on her heels, beginning the sprint back to where she had left Angela.

As she boltedback down the halls the world around her was starting to grow blurry, and it took Fareeha a moment to realize that it was because she was crying. Dammit, why was she crying? When had she started crying? Soldiers didn’t cry. They were supposed to be strong. Stoic. They weren’t supposed to let emotion get in the way of a mission. She hadn’t even cried when her mother had gone missing. So why the  hell  was she crying now?

Rounding the corner to where Angela lay once again, Fareeha could immediately see that the pool of blood underneath her had grown larger, and as she got closer she could tell that the doctor wasn’t even breathing anymore. She clutched the staff tightly in her hand as she approached, telling herself that this would work. This  _ had  _ to work.

“You’re going to be okay,” she repeated, starting to press every button and switch on the staff while desperately trying to figure out how to operate it. She was painfully aware of every second that passed, knowing that each moment took Angela even further away from her. The tears were still stinging at her eyes, and it sure as hell wasn’t making her job any easier. She cursed under her breath, wondering why Angela had to make this device so damn complicated.

Finally she seemed to do something right, and with a dull hum the staff came to life, lighting up and beginning to vibrate softly in Fareeha’s hands. The vibrations were only made more pronounced by how badly she was shaking, but she was doing everything she could to stay calm, to keep panic from overwhelming her. Taking one more deep breath to steady herself Fareeha lifted the staff up into the air, before slamming it down onto the ground, letting out a shout that shook the very floor beneath her.

“ **_Al'abtal yamut 'abadanaan!_ ** ”


	2. The Reunion

It felt odd to be back here after so long. Fareeha stood at the edge of the sheer cliff face, watching the waves crash up against the rocks. There was a gentle wind blowing over her bare shoulders, lightly tossing her hair around whenever it hit her. Behind her loomed the imposing silhouette of one of Overwatch’s old decommissioned bases: Watchpoint Gibraltar.

Ever since Overwatch had been shut down the building had sat abandoned- well, that wasn’t entirely true. There was one person who still operated out of this place. Or one gorilla, rather. But even then, the old base was only a shell of what it had once been. And being here after so many years, seeing it all run down, completely abandoned, it filled Fareeha with a vague sense of uneasiness, and a distinct fear that coming here at all had been the wrong decision.

“Fareeha?” The voice immediately shook her from her thoughts, and even after all this time, she’d still recognize that chipper cockney accent anywhere. As she turned around her suspicions were confirmed, and she found herself face to face with Lena Oxton. “Fareeha, it really is you! I had a feelin’ you’d be one of the ones to show up!”

“Possibly the only one,” Fareeha replied. “I haven’t seen anyone else the whole time I’ve been here.”

“Yeah,” Lena sighed, the momentary burst of excitement she had gotten from seeing Fareeha seeming to fade just as quickly as it had come. “Figured it might happen this way. Big guy had some lofty ambitions tryna call us all back together like this, but I expected most a the rest to turn the offer down.”

“It's understandable.  I wasn’t quite sure whether to come here or not myself,” Fareeha admitted. 

“Well I’m glad ya did! Even if nobody else shows up it’ll still be you me and Winston, and y’know what they say!” Lena insisted. “Two’s a crowd, but three’s company!” Listening to her speak, Fareeha couldn’t help but be a little bit inspired by Lena’s confidence and optimism given the situation. How she managed to stay so positive after what had happened with Overwatch was a mystery to Fareeha, but something about it was infectious. If Lena had decided to come here as well, then clearly it couldn’t have been that bad of an idea.

“Speaking of Winston,” Fareeha added on, “I think we’ve likely kept him waiting long enough. Shall we?”

“You still remember the way after all this time?” Lena asked, earning a small nod from Fareeha in response. “Then lead on!”

The two women began to move away from the cliff and the ocean, starting off on their way across the rundown launchpad and back towards the opposite end of the facility. Each step that Fareeha took brought memories back to her, some of them good, others not so much. While she had spent the majority of her time back at the Swiss Headquarters while growing up, she had gotten bounced around between the various watchpoints quite a bit as well. Each one had been something like a second home to her, and she had strong memories about all of them.

“Kinda freaky seein’ it all empty like this, don'tcha think?” Lena eventually asked, breaking a several-minute silence between them as they walked along.

“Extremely,” Fareeha agreed. “The most unsettling thing is how similar it all still is.”

“Yeah, I can see that…” Lena mused, taking another moment to look around at their surroundings. “Guess nothin’s really changed, huh? Everything’s still here ‘cept for the people.”

“Do you miss them?” The question seemed to catch Lena off guard, and truthfully, Fareeha herself was surprised by it as well. She wasn’t really sure where that had come from, and it had slipped out before she even had the time to think about it. Still, Lena seemed willing to answer it.

“Of course I miss ‘em. They were some of the best friends I ever had, y’know? Heck, it was even more than that. Overwatch was like a second family to me. It’d be impossible to stop myself from missin’ them, even if I wanted to.” Lena had more or less taken the words straight out of Fareeha’s mouth, and once again she found herself going quiet, simply giving a nod in response. Whether they had died or simply fallen out of contact, it had been years since Fareeha had seen so many of the people she cared about. Morrison. Reyes. McCree. Genji. But most of all…

“It ain't your fault what happened to her, y’know.” The words shook Fareeha from her thoughts, thoughts that Lena had apparently been reading, and as she looked over her found the other woman staring back at her with an uncharacteristically serious expression on her face.

“I know,” Fareeha replied, sighing softly as she spoke the words. “I know it’s not.” Or at least, she had been told that many times before. But knowing something logically and knowing something emotionally were two very different things. And while Fareeha might have overcome the first, she was still struggling with the second.

“He should be just upstairs, right?” Lena asked, approaching the bottom of a staircase. She already knew the answer to her own question, but she felt that any sort of change in topic would be a good thing for Fareeha at the moment. Dwelling too long on the past always seemed like something that was better off avoided.

“That’s right,” Fareeha confirmed. She took just a moment to mentally prepare herself, knowing that this would be the first time she had seen Winston in over seven years, before starting to walk up the staircase. “Let’s go.” Lena followed close behind, their feet making a series of clanks as they made their way up the metal stairs. When they reached the top Fareeha pushed her hand forward to open the door, expecting to see Winston waiting there for them. But it wasn’t the gorilla who’s silhouette greeted the pair.

As the door opened, Fareeha was confronted by the sight of another person she hadn’t seen in years: Gabriel Reyes. Or at the very least, what was left of him. His back was turned, and even though he was clad in long sleeves and heavy pants, Fareeha could still see the outlines where extensive parts of his body had been replaced with cybernetics after he had nearly been killed in the explosion at the Overwatch Headquarters all those years ago. At the sound of the door opening he craned his neck around, revealing a face that was a patchwork of biology and technology. Large sections of it had been replaced with cybernetics as well, and the parts that hadn’t now showed clear signs of age. Turning to face Fareeha completely Gabriel’s one good eye locked onto her… And his mechanically augmented jaw stretched into a smile.

“Well well,” he chuckled, eye glancing back and forth between Lena and Fareeha. “Look what the cavalry dragged in.” His voice was hoarse and metallic, an obvious side effect of his condition, but there was still a human element at the heart of it all. “I was wondering whether you two would show up, but I should’ve known a couple of rascals like you would never pass up a chance to cause some trouble.”

Seeing Gabriel again, hearing those words, it brought a smile to Fareeha’s face. This wasn’t the first time that she had crossed paths with him since the disbanding of Overwatch, but it still had been several years at this point. “It’s good to see you again.”

“Yeah, pleasure to see you again Commander Reyes!” Lena chimed in, causing Gabriel to wave a hand dismissively.

“I haven’t been Commander Reyes in years,” he insisted. “You don’t call me commander, I won’t call you cadet.”

“You’ve got yourself a deal then, Gabe!” Lena laughed, flashing a cheesy grin that earned a small chuckle from Gabriel as well. A moment later a familiar, furry head poked itself out from around a corner.

“Oh! I thought I heard more voices! Welcome!”

“Winston!” Lena cried out, dashing down the hall in the blink of an eye and tossing her arms around the gorilla. “I missed ya, big guy!”

“I missed you too!” Winston replied, laughing warmly as he put an arm around Tracer. “And you too!” he added on, looking down the hall towards Fareeha. “I’m afraid I didn’t call you all here just to catch up, though. There’s something important I wanted to discuss. Er… Do you think we should wait any longer? Or…?”

“I doubt we’ll get any more,” Gabriel stated, crossing his arms and shaking his head. “Sorry. I know you were hoping for a higher turnout.”

“It’s quite alright!” Winston insisted, starting to walk back towards the room he had just come from while motioning for the others to follow. “Even with just the four of us, it’s still more than I was counting on! Besides, the more people you gather the harder it is to stay organized! This is the perfect number!”

“That’s the spirit!” Lena cheered, sticking alongside Winston and following him into the next room. Fareeha stayed behind for just a moment, glancing over at Gabriel, who still wore a large smile on his face.

“They always seem to find the silver lining, those two,” he commented. “They’re a good bunch to have on your side.”

“Especially in times like these,” Fareeha agreed, before following the other two into the next room. There was a large holotable at the center of it, and by the time she and Gabriel entered, Winston was already tapping away at his computer, causing a large projection of the world to appear over the surface.

“While I wish I could say I had a happy reason for this reunion, I’m afraid that’s not the case,” he began. “As most of you have probably noticed, our old friends at Talon have been quiet for the past few years.” While he spoke he continued tapping away at keys, and a handful of red dots appeared on the world map, each one presumably marking the location of a documented Talon operation. There were still more dots than Fareeha would have liked, but she could recognize that it really wasn’t that much activity, compared to the way the organization had once been.

“Lately, however,” Winston went on, tapping another key. The moment he did more dots started to flicker into view all over the map, one after another, until they had easily tripled the number that had been there previously. “They’ve been growing bold again.”

“Why?” Gabriel was the first one to ask the question that was presumably on everyone’s mind. “It doesn’t make any sense. If they wanted to start running wild you would think they would’ve taken their chance the moment Overwatch was shut down. But instead they basically went into hiding for seven years. So why? And why are they just poking their heads back out now?”

“I can’t answer the first question, but I think I do have an answer for the second one,” Winston replied. “Lately, I’ve been monitoring reports regarding a new high-ranking Talon agent.” As he said that the world map flickered out, and a new set of images appeared in the center of the room. It was a series of photographs, all of which looked like they had been taken from grainy security cameras or frames of shaky cellphone camera videos. Even with the general lack of quality, though, it was still easy enough to tell that they all seemed to be depicting the same person. A woman, from the look of it, although her figure was the only real way to tell, given that her face was entirely covered. She was wearing a skintight outfit, mostly red with hints of black, and had what appeared to be a pair of mechanical wings mounted on her back. A hood covered her head, and a black mask with a red cross obscured her face.

“According to sources she operates under the codename Idun,” Winston explained. “Currently I don’t have any information about her actual identity, but I suspect her presence is a large part of why Talon has become more confident recently. With her on their side, they’re willing to be more bold than they’ve been for the past few years.”

“You really think one person can make that much of a difference?” Gabriel asked. He was no stranger to the power a single person could hold, and to how much just one person could affect the outcome of a mission. These had all been important lessons to learn during his time as the head of Blackwatch. Still, for an entire organization, especially one as large as Talon, to put so much faith in a single operative, it didn’t seem likely.

“Well, that’s the thing about her,” Winston went on. “Apparently she really is that dangerous. Her abilities have even been described as… Supernatural.” After he said that last word there was a moment of silence in the room, everyone looking at everyone else while trying to determine if that had really just been said. It was Fareeha who finally broke it this time.

“Supernatural how?”

“Prepare yourselves,” Winston warned. “These next images aren’t pretty.” Tapping his finger on the keyboard the projection changed, and the former Overwatch agents were immediately greeted with a half-dozen pictures of corpses. Death was something that they were used to by now, though. What bothered Fareeha wasn’t the bodies themselves. It was the nature of them.

Each and every one of the corpses shown on the projection looked withered. The skin was pale and wrinkled, hanging off of clearly visible bones as if all the muscle and fat had somehow vanished. Aside from that, though, there were no signs of injury on any of the bodies. Not a single external wound anywhere to be seen. It was like…

“It’s like someone sucked the life clean outta them…” Once again, it seemed that Lena was reading Fareeha’s thoughts.

“It does,” Winston agreed. “That’s precisely how witnesses have described it. While I’m sure there’s a rational, scientific explanation for this… I’m not sure what it is yet,” he admitted.

“So this is why you called us back here,” Gabriel said. His arms were still crossed over his chest, and his eye darted back and forth across the images on the projection a few more times before looking past it, staring at Winston instead. “You want us to go after her. Take on Talon again, just like the old days. If that’s the case… I’m going to have to decline.”

“Gabe!” Lena cried out, slamming her hands down onto the edge of the table and leaning in over it, ending up with images projected across her face. “You don’t even know that that’s what he was going to say!”

“It’s alright,” Winston replied, shaking his head. “He’s right. I’ve obtained information about an upcoming Talon operation, and that’s precisely what I was going to suggest. I know it’s dangerous, but with the four of us back-”

“It’s not just dangerous,” Gabriel interrupted. “It’s a suicide mission. Think about it. The target has the ability to suck someone’s life right out of their body. We don’t know how it works, and we don’t know how to prevent it. If we go anywhere near her we’re as good as dead. And I already cheated death once. I’m not in any hurry to roll those dice again.”

“Then I’ll go.” After remaining quiet for so long, everyone else seemed a bit startled to hear Fareeha speak up again. But the fact that she was speaking was only a part of it. More than that, they were surprised by what she had said, and the certainty with which she had said it.

“If Fareeha's going I’m going too,” Lena chimed in, looking over and locking eyes with Fareeha. They held the eye contact for a brief moment, both giving the other a small nod of solidarity, before Gabriel commanded their attention once again.

“You’ll get yourselves killed in a heartbeat if you go out there,” he insisted. “We shouldn’t even be talking about something like this in the first place. We’re not Overwatch anymore.”

“You’re right,” Fareeha agreed. “We’re not. But we’re what’s left of it. We all came here for a reason,” she pointed out. “We all knew that Winston didn’t call us out this far for no reason. We all knew what we were about to get ourselves involved in by coming here. And we all chose to do it anyway. Even you, Gabriel.”

“Exactly! We can't just give up on this!” Lena added on. “We all came here because even if Overwatch is gone, we still believe in what it stood for! We believe in making the world a better place! We believe in the heroes that will _make_ it a better place, and we believe that we can  _ be  _ those heroes! So as long as there’s still something I can do to help someone, anyone, you can bet your bottom dollar I’m gonna do it!”

“If you kids want to get yourselves killed then I can’t stop you,” Gabriel replied, simply shaking his head in stern disappointment. “I’m not your commanding officer anymore. But don’t expect me to watch while you do it.” With that he turned and walked out of the room, boots clanking down the hallway as he disappeared from view. It was disheartening for Fareeha to see him leave, especially after just having been reunited with him for the first time in years. But she refused to let herself focus on that. Instead, she turned her attention back towards the gorilla sitting at the far end of the holotable.

“Alright Winston. What’s the plan?”


	3. Before the Storm

Fareeha stood in the locker room of Watchpoint Gibraltar, looking at herself in the mirror as she fitted the various pieces of the Raptora suit onto her body. Doing this brought back a strong memory. She had donned this very same suit many times since the incident at Overwatch’s Swiss Headquarters, but to be suiting up in the locker room of an Overwatch base, it reminded her so much of that day. She still carried a thousand different regrets over what had happened there. But now, she told herself, now was her chance to make up for all of that.

The Raptora suit felt lighter than it once had. Not because of any remarkable improvements in the technology or in efficiency, but simply because she had gotten so used to it by now. The first time she had worn it the suit had felt cumbersome and clunky, and seemed completely counterproductive to the idea of gracefully soaring through the skies during combat. Now, though, it felt like an extension of herself. She understood precisely how to use it, and she almost felt naked without it.

With one last look in the mirror to make sure that everything was fitted properly Fareeha strapped her rocket launcher over her shoulder, shutting the locker and turning to leave the room. This all still felt so surreal to her, and she constantly had to remind herself that this was actually happening. Even if this mission wasn’t officially sanctioned by Overwatch, even if Overwatch itself was still shut down, she was going out into the field again with her old comrades. Or, one of them, at least. Gabriel had made it clear that he didn’t intend to join in, and they had decided that it would be best for Winston to stay behind at the Watchpoint to provide information and walk them through the mission. Only Fareeha and Lena would actually be going out into the field, but that was still enough for it to feel like old times.

Climbing up the staircase from the locker room to the launch pad, Fareeha paused when she saw the dropship looming over her. It was a miracle that this base still had one, and even more of a miracle that the ship was actually functional. Still, she wasn’t going to complain. She knew better than look a gift horse in the mouth.

As Fareeha approached the dropship Lena poked her head out from inside, goggles strapped over her eyes and a cheerful grin on her face. “Hey there!” she called out. “You almost ready for liftoff?”

“Are you sure you actually know how to fly this thing?” Fareeha asked. She had to admit, she was cautiously skeptical about Lena’s ability. This wouldn’t turn out to be much of a mission if they crashed before they even reached their destination.

“I can figure it out!” Lena replied. “I had plenty of experience flyin’ jets! This baby’s a bit slower and a bit bulkier, but I’m sure it’s nothin’ I can’t handle!” That answer didn’t do a lot to inspire confidence in Fareeha, but she wasn’t going to outwardly doubt Lena either. The two of them were a team once again, and having faith in your teammates was important. It could often spell the difference between life and death.

Lena disappeared back into the ship after that, and Fareeha began to follow, walking up the ramp into the cabin. She looked over in time to see Lena heading up to the pilot’s seat, grabbing the radio. “This is Tracer to Winston! You readin’ me, big guy?” Hearing that name made Fareeha pause for a moment. It made sense to use their old callsigns if they were going to be working together again, but it was still a strange thing to be confronted with.

“Loud and clear!” Winston’s voice came through the radio a moment later. “Give me another few minutes to make sure everything’s in order and you’ll be good for takeoff!”

“Roger that!” Lena replied, before fitting the radio back into place. She came zipping down the stairs from the cockpit after that, jumping up onto the railing and sliding down it like a child would in school. Once again Fareeha was struck by just how positive and upbeat Lena managed to remain, even when they were facing a situation like this. Even when they were about to go out on their first mission in years. She didn’t understand it, but she appreciated it.

“Never really thought we’d be goin’ on another mission like this, didja?” Lena asked, leaning back against one of the tables that sat in the lower area of the dropship. 

“I really didn’t,” Fareeha greed. “I never thought I’d be calling you Tracer again either. It feels strange to say it now.”

“Well you’d better get used to it, Pharah,” Lena replied, flashing a wink and a cheesy grin in Fareeha’s direction. “‘Cause that’s what we’re both gonna be saying once we get out there.” Pharah. That was another name that felt strange now. It felt like it didn’t fit her anymore, like finding an old piece of clothing from years ago, and trying it on only to be amazed that you had ever been able to wear it in the first place. But if they really were going out on this mission together, just like in the old days, Lena was right. She would just have to get used to it again.

“I guess we’ll have to get a bit of practice in on the way there,” Fareeha eventually chuckled. “I don’t think this is going to come naturally to me.”

“Well we’ll have plenty of time,” Lena replied. “We’ll be in the air for a good four or five hours, dependin’ on how fast this old thing can actually go.”

“You’re sure that it’s going to be operational?” Fareeha asked. The last thing she needed was to get into the air only to have the old hunk of junk stall out. But judging from the fact that nobody had been looking after it or performing maintenance for years, that worst case scenario actually didn’t seem that far out of the question. Maybe that was something that was better not to think about.

“This is Winston to Tracer. Do you read me?” The gorilla’s voice crackled over the radio once again, and Lena zipped back up the stars, chronal accelerator whirring on her chest as she blinked through time itself to get there just a little bit faster. Somewhat unnecessary, Fareeha thought, but then again, if she had that sort of power, she couldn’t say for certain that she wouldn’t use it that way either.

“This is Tracer,” Lena said into the radio. “What’s the situation?”

“Diagnostics are complete,” Winston replied. “You are clear for liftoff.”

“Roger that!” Lena vaulted herself over the back of the pilot’s chair at that point, dropping down into it and taking a few seconds to look around at all the buttons and switches and readouts filling the cockpit. “Feels good to be back. It’s been awhile since I’ve been at the head of one of these things.”

“I wish you hadn’t told me that,” Fareeha called out, walking over to one of the seats in the lower portion of the drop ship and sitting down in it.

“Don’t worry love!” Lena called back. “I’ve never crashed before and I don’t intend to start now! I mean… Aside from that one time,” she added on under her breath. Flipping a switch the dropship door began to close, lifting up off the ground and folding inward for just a moment before a steel toed boot clanged down against it.

“And just where do you kids think you’re going?” a raspy, mechanical voice called out. Fareeha looked up to see Gabriel standing at the entrance to the dropship. He was wearing a long black coat over his normal tactical outfit, and a hood obscured part of his head, but it was still clearly him. Hanging from his back were two shotguns that Fareeha had seen many times before, and a series of what looked like gas grenades were slung around his waist. “You weren’t planning on leaving without me, were you?”

“Gabriel?” Fareeha asked, shock apparent in both her voice and her expression. “You made your opinions very clear during our meeting yesterday. We weren’t expecting you to join us.”

“Gabe?” Lena asked, poking her head down from the cockpit with an equal sense of surprise to Fareeha. “Had a change of heart, did ya?”

“Don’t get the wrong idea,” Gabriel insisted, walking up the ramp and onto the dropship itself. “I still think this is a suicide mission. But maybe if you two have me around your chances of not getting killed will go up just a little bit. Besides,” he added on, looking over towards Fareeha. “Jack and I both made a promise to your mother, that if anything ever happened to her we’d look after you. Now that that blond bastard’s not around I guess all that weight falls on me. If you’re gonna run off to do something stupid I don’t have much of a choice but to join you.”

Despite the curmudgeonly front that Gabriel was trying to put up, hearing him talk like that brought a smile to Fareeha’s face. She reached her arm up, extending a mechanically-gloved hand towards him. “Welcome aboard, Commander Reyes.”

“I told you,” Gabriel replied, reaching out to clap his own bionic hand against Fareeha’s, “I’m not Commander Reyes anymore. Call me Reaper.”


End file.
